The Daily News MONDAY, JULY 15. PEACE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 15 July 1907, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, JULY 15. PEACE.

At The Hague, iu Holland, where the Canai-sider placidly smokes the same ;kiud of pipe Jiis ancestors uf tbree hunJilred years ago aliened, and possibly | wear.-, tile liauded-dowii elogs of his tin- iepivsentalives oi the uorld'- great powers discuss the ,';ue-ilii!ii 01 modern peace aiming nations, li is pceiiliaily lining th;,t the conduct 01 sanguinary war and the po,sil,ility "I doing away with it and snbstilulill" a.rl'itration should be discussed in a piace ■■■» peaceful and placid. And while the r>'pre-ciitaiiy,,s of the Creat Powers were working to compass the destruction of minis. the world was getting into its warpaint. The prime I mover in (he eau.se of universal pence is I'ussia. and as an indication that even llnssia din s no! anticijiiite peace for Nome little time, the Russian Coveroment hive made of eiy],t mil io,, pounds to ~„, v „„ i„r inanv years th" building of engines of destruction. .lapaii. ll,nv, unr'orliiuateh for (.'lirisieudoin, one of the world p,' W cr<. is .so anxious for p,.,K-o. thai, notwithstanding tin- eNtj'ente jioverly oi' tJ u . country, it is spending: immense sums of I money on armaments, mid lias, as is cabled. Cermanv ;in order Tor three miliiun pounds' worth of hrnw «<uns.

In the ollV'l-ls u. ensure the pen-,. 0 f the world America N quarrelling with Japan, primarily over [he prohibition bv America again.-t Japanese "clii!(lrcn"'iu the States' schools. Japan. Mill'ering badly from "swelled head. ' and regarding the whole world as an orange specially grown to be sucked by the Alikado, is naturally annoyed. America, which has not much time for national quarrels as ! a general tlmi«r. is, however, rather anxious to show that she can, if she sets out, to do it, "lick creation." An American lleet is to make demonstrations iu the ! Pacific, and America has said that she must be the paramount Power in the Pacilic, which will be ill-named enough if I'nele Sam and our allies are not so peacefully disposed as the representatives at the Hague would like the world to believe. 'I lie frantic building of warships by any great Power imposes a necessity on the other Powers to keep up to (he >tre]]ufh oj a possible eneiuv. While universal peace is talked of.'therefore, a great authority in England declarer the nation is no! prepared for war. and accuses the .British Xavv of uuprepareduc.ss. a charge that has" alwuvs apparently been justified since Britain had a navv at all.

Nations are not so honorable as individuals. Some men may accept the word of a fellow-man as "'his bond." Nations accept the naval programme of every oilier nation as an impiied threat. The latitude of Japan, therefore, and the attitude of Kuxsia in taxing their people enormously to e<piip fighting machines, taves also the people or every ! other nation which must for safety increase armaments at the same rate'as a possible enemy. The supremacy of the British Navy is, as has heen so often pointed out. a guarantee of the world's peace, so that it is apparent that peace means poverty. Navies have to be paid for. So have armies. The tens of millions of men who are (rained to arms the world over are non-producers. Therefore they are all Investment that repay nothing iu times of peace. The taxpayer has to find a million or a million aiid a-haif pounds to supply a very ordinarv warship, as gunged by modern standards, and a quarter of an hour under the (ire of big guns may send the most wonderful lighting machine to (he bottom of the ocean. Nations quarrel easilv. They <pi:wrel so easily that not one soldier or sailor in a thousand knows what he is fighting about. r l lii■ man who becomes a _hcro because America would not teach Japanese in the schools, sorely won't .<n ve much to boast of. The slaying of men. under civil circumstances, j-, regarded with the greatest horror. Tender military circumstances it is deemed highly glorious, ii thing to be proud of and decoupled lor. Civil quarrels are Reltled by the courts, but the quarrels of nation-- having far proportionately to quarrel about than individuals, arc setI'.'cd bv le.is thousands ot men woo Ihave no persona! quarrel at all willi the people they are anxious lo sin v.

Ibe intelligence ol modern man is of such a high order that one might think it would rise to the necessity of preserving the race which it cauuol re-create. Alan is essentially a lighter, inainlv becaufe his forefather, less intelligent' than he. knew lio other way to attain an end except by the sword. It really isn't half as heroic to die lor one's country as lo live for one's family, and dying is all easy way of avoiding responsibilities, lo ensure the uselesstiess of a man for an ordinary productive occupation (rain him up (o tile art of war. There are more ex-military and ex-naval men subsisting on the charity of the world's countries than there are of any other kind. Ho ,;-(>] 1 recognised is (he useicssucsß of a "veteran" that nearly all the countries are taxed to supply them with pensions. Thousands of millions of pounds with which the whole of the civilised world's poverty might be swept away are expended in preparations for the downfall of possible enemies. The more complete the preparations the greater the chance of peace.

'I lie world's peace Ciiiniiit come until the <•] the world regard each other as nations of tlivir word. There is" today 11.1 obstacle to the pejice of the white race except the' fatal facility of the same white race for interfering in the attait> of the dark races. The personal aggressiveness of a single man in the, person of an J^injieio;-, a Czar or a King may precipitate war and the personal inihience of a sane monarch may ensure peace. The llalliral aptitude for fighting need not necessarily die when the whole of the world's armouries are "scrapped.' The same instinct that prompts a mail to rush into the fray in a military sense is exactly the same instinct that compels a mail to rush into the war to commence. A keen business man is a keen soldier. Imt it is rather extraordinary how few keen business men there are at the head ot' an army of Europe. IVrhaps if the commercial instinct were uppermost ill the minds of the earth's military leaders they would -!>e how futile it was killing off a nalions customers wholesale, pouring out the nation's capital like water, and unievtukinjx new responsibilities that, art a los to (he national pocket.

I he world's military leaders are men who desire war. If is (heir study. It is what 1 hey are trained for. ]t is to tile microti ol their calling and the upkeep of military dignity thai there shall be a lull supply of war. li is beeause niililary and naval leaders the com-nien-ial a-pcH of international transactions or ipiarrcls that war is at present, pns-'ibte. Illustrating the fatuous methods of an.ainiy or a navy one has only !<; tera 11 the tremendous business blunders of the military administration in South AfnVa. 'l'll,, Army despises cominei-' e and tie- commercial man. Thai is why tie l army of any European .-onntry llouuders through its bn-onss apart from military operations in so peculiarly fatuous a fashion. In our opinion tiie peace of lb.- world depends entirely on the conmierei. 1 education o! the navy and army oi an\ nation. When an orinv begins to look upon itself as an organisation specially embodied to help com■ uiciee along it will see tliat it is a ridi- . uloii- eirciim-i am e; that it is bad busine.-s to cvist simply for the slaying oi people who ought to trade with it: thai il is not good for commerce to use on of able-bodied men as mere iinprodnclive potential fighting units: and that disbaiidmcnt as a military fore is the true solution of the great problem ol poverly. lint in Ibe meantime it is III" "Ol" hiMiics <>f the World's lighting people io become and remain a!armi-ts.

111." rea-on why 11 is ti.cir luisilles.-i to -'.ir it|. .strife is lliav they haven't yet •.:ia-|ieil ihe potentialities. the glorious po-sibi!it ies, and the possible prosperity "t universal pence; the release of millions of men: the peopling of incalculable waste spaces of the world: the Hccurily of (he individual and of the nation's good: the loss of (lie military instinct and in its place the instiie-l of fighting lor success and progress and for right-eoii-iii'st;. 'I o us it always seems a saerlb'g.' (hat religion -h'.uld be in anv way identified with war. The blessings of .a standard, the "trooping of (he colors." lie' "ehureh parade" on the battleship going inlo aefion or before a regiment Ufoes to i(s doom or the doom of the enemy. It is all very bloodthirsty and vrry unnecessary. The heart doesn't [bleed so much for the man who goes out to seek Heath and finds liiin. Tt bleeds iiinii' for those who are waiting for the unit of destruction and are destroyed J

Ihciusi'lvua. There is no fear tliat the sitiilily, tliu viriliLy, liu: jjiido of race, I the loyalty of a iioojiie will decay when 'tile lust VHisliiji is "fiwiipjicd" anil the last li'ig gun is melted down. However distant Uie consummation of a universal white brotherhood may lie, it is a eon:iUinmation to be looked forward io with longing eyes and a boundless hope.

what aciucul'lTßU means to a STATE. While New Xcaiiiiid is agitated I'roin end io cud l»y the fear of agriculturalists ui attacks upon freehold tenures, it is of inten-t i«» notu what a really great part the agriculturalist play* iu the general wea.th production. The United i State*, for instance, is commonly looked upon by Labor loaders «« a nmuufaeturin# country, the wealth of the States being derived train the labor of the men and women iu the countless factories and worknhops. Just what a fallacy that is, and at the same time what a country can du that throws its land open, uud welcomes ami assists the culrivalor. and gives him security of tenure is shown by lho report of the secretary or the Cuit' d Slnles Department of Agriculture for 1003. This re]>ort, deal-

ing with the subject or wealth production ' by farmers, after giving statistics, goes on to say: "Dream.* of wealth-produc-tion conid hardly equal the preceding figures into which various items of the farmers' industry have heen translated; and yd the story is not done When other items, whieli cannot tiud place here, are included, it appears that the weaitli production on farms iu 1005 reached Hie righe>t amount ever attained by the farmer of this or any other country, a stupendous of results of Urain and imucle juid machine, amounting in value to 6,-115,000,000 dollars. The deduction from wealth produced, made in the report of last year, on account of pro;ducts fed to live stock, ifl not continued this year, because llie duplication of produced wealth in the consumption of • products by farm animals is much less 1 ihan lias been assumed, and is undoubt- ' wily move than ojVset by the amount of wealth produced on farms which cannot

i be estimated or even ascertained prac* tieally by eeusim enumerators. It might ) reasonably have heen supposed in 1004 " that the wealth produced by farmers had * reached a value which would not be equalled perhaps for some years to fol--1 low, and yet that value was exceeded by the value for this year by 25(1,-01)0.-

• 0i;t) do.lar.s Just as the value'for that year exceeded thai for 1!>0:S hy 2-12,000,• 000. The grand of weallh I produced on farms in 15M);i exceeds that of inoi by 4 per cent: it is greater than s thai of ]ooa hy 8 ])er cent,, and trausII ceuds ihe census figures for ISOfl by .'id per cent, ami this after a lapse of only

six years. If there is no relapse from this high position that the farmer now holds as a • weiilth-producer, three years hem e he may look hack over the preceding decade and, if ho will add the annual figures of his wealth-production, he will find that the farming element, or about 35 per cent of the population, has produced an amount of wealth within those ten years equal to one-half of the entire national wealth produced by the toil and composed of the surpluses and savings of three centuries.